Rural Sites Network Grant
2010-2011 RSN Minigrants
The Rural Sites Network (RSN) offers minigrant funds to NWP sites on an annual basis. Every fall, RSN minigrants are offered as part of the special-focus networks minigrant program in conjunction with the NWP Continued Funding Application. Funding criteria and awards are determined through a peer-review process; grants are awarded in the spring of each year. This year, grants of $5,000 will be awarded.
For more, view the original proposal information.
Six Participating Sites
Flint Hills Writing Project, Kansas
The goal of this project is to collect and highlight rural teachers' personal stories regarding the impact of reform based on standards, assessments, and sanctions. Veteran rural teachers are asked how the reform efforts since the early 1980s have changed their lives and their responses are recorded, thereby documenting their experiences before they retire. This important piece of educational history gives voice to rural teachers and serves as a time capsule for the profession.
Western Kentucky University Writing Project, Kentucky
This minigrant funds a pilot interactive seminar designed to help rural western Kentucky teachers integrate into their classrooms instruction related to the Holocaust, other genocides, and social justice. During the seminar, participants explore survivor testimonies, primary source documents, and instructional materials. After the seminar, participants engage in online discussions and face-to-face follow-ups to share ongoing results and document their experience.
Red Cedar Writing Project, Michigan
The goal of this project is to implement an advanced institute for rural teacher-consultants who want to build a stronger cultural awareness and sensitivity. Through the use of rich mentor texts, teachers explore issues of cultural diversity, gender equity, family dynamics, and economic differences and, more broadly, explore the idea of global citizenship. Throughout the institute, online surveys given to participants gauge their growth in the area of critical literacy and cultural understanding.
Minnesota Writing Project, Minnesota
This minigrant funds the development of a weeklong summer institute focused on reaching educators in the underserved rural area of northeast Minnesota. Participants learn about the benefits a Writing Project presence can have on teaching, student learning, and professional development. The goal is not only to transform how participants teach writing, but also to build an MWP rural satellite to serve educators in that region.
Missouri Writing Project, Missouri
This minigrant funds an embedded institute within a rural district in the Mid-Missouri area, offering rural educators the chance to gain confidence and effectiveness as teachers of writing in their own setting. By meeting in actual classrooms and media centers, teachers develop greater awareness of inquiry-based lessons using resources available within rural classrooms.
Prairie Lands Writing Project, Missouri
The Prairie Lands Writing Project offers simultaneous place-based digital composition institutes for area teachers in two rural locales. The goal of the project is to build the site's teacher-consultant leadership pool, enhance the site's visibility in rural service areas, and provide teachers the opportunity to write and publish pieces as digital compositions to be used in school settings throughout northwest Missouri as exemplars to showcase the unique qualities of rural life in the area.
